Tuesday 24 April 2018

Book Review: Lost For Words

Lost For WordsLost For Words by Stephanie Butland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stephanie Butland's charming Yorkshire-set romantic-mystery-drama manages to introduce a prickly protagonist, while still making her easy to emphasise with. Loveday Cardew is a difficult, isolated and sharp character, who should be hard to care about, but the strength of her interactions with always lovable Archie, gentlemanly magician Nathan and even the somewhat villainous Rob make it easy to see that there's something deeper in her than just the sharp edges. She's a bold and unusual choice for a main character, and I loved spending time with her.

I also really enjoyed how well Butland conjured up images of beautiful, historic York with it's independent cafes and dusty, but wonderful bookshops, and coastal Whitby with the salt-tang of the air and the hustle and bustle of tourists. As a Yorkshire woman it always makes my heart glad to see books set in my home county, and I'm especially proud of this one.

I found the story so engaging that I just couldn't put the book down and ended up reading it in two days. I found myself feeling the terror, worry and love along with Loveday as the story unfolded.

I can't wait to read more by Butland, and I hope it leaves me as breathless as Lost For Words did.

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Sunday 22 April 2018

Book Review: The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder

The Colour of Bee Larkham’s MurderThe Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found Sarah J. Harris's unconventional mystery a little hard-work to begin with. I didn't slip in Jasper's mindset as much as I would have liked, however this could just be because his point of view is so unique and unusual. However as the story moved on, I found myself really absorbing the colours of Jasper's world, and trying to view things through his eyes. It's certainly an interesting perspective to write a book from, and I really appreciate the innovation.

I enjoyed the mystery unfolding from Jasper's perspective, where he is unable to recognise faces or follow expected social cues - it made me view the story in different ways to how I usually read fiction. I also really enjoyed the little moments where the reader could take the cues, or implied meanings but Jasper missed them.

However I found the last portion of the book a little bit hard to digest, I felt that Harris was trying to turn Bee Larkham into a tragic character that we should sympathise with and feel sorry for. But I don't think that her previous actions should be justified by her past. It felt like the book had spent a long period of time establishing Bee's character, only to try and change it drastically at the end, and it felt forced and rushed to me. Perhaps if there had been more of Bee's history interspersed throughout the rest of the book, it may feel more natural.

However on the whole, the character building was strong, and the addition of colours to characters really added a strong insight. On the whole The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder was a unique and enjoyable read, with a few flaws.

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